Government grant pellet boiler 18 January at 1:56PM edited 19 January at 10:32AM in LPG, heating oil, solid & other fuels 4 replies 187 views

Janeyjane

We receive an annual grant from the government for the pellet boiler that we installed. We had it replaced and had our engineer sign off the paperwork. However, it was discovered that the engineer had let his accreditation expire  he provided a further membership number, which was false. The government rejected our grant. The engineer eventually renewed his creditation details, but it was deemed too late, so we have lost our financial assistance.  We have tried to appeal, but we are unsuccessful.  This situation seems highly unfair, as we used the engineer in good faith, and lost out due to his incompetence. What can we do? We have tried to find the correct ombudsman,  but we keep being pushed between several, each one saying the other will assist. Appreciate your advice

MX5huggy

RHI (presume this is the scheme?) run by OFGEM I doubt they are regulated by an ombudsman, being basically an ombudsman themselves. 

If all your certification is now Valid and you can’t get any joy I would say writing to your MP could be a useful step. They can cut through bureaucracy when required. 

Reed_Richards

I would have thought the best remedy in law is to sue the engineer for the loss of your RHI payments.

Janeyjane said:

... we used the engineer in good faith, and lost out due to his incompetence.... 

matelodave

As R_R says, its down to the engineer's incompetence that you are in this situation.

The rules are clear, you can only claim RHI if the equipment is fitted by an accredited engineer. It was he who failed to keep up his accreditation and effectively falsified the documents by using an expired accreditation registration and then compounded it by supplying a false accreditation.

It's nothing to do with OFGEM, the Ombudsman or your MP etc so your only remedy would be to sue the engineer.

I dont know whether its possible to have the installation re-certified by another properly accredited engineer, which may be worth exploring. However I'd check the rules very carefully and confirm that it would be accepted by OFGEM before going down that route.

Alternatively consult a solicitor with a view to suing the bloke who did the work. Dunno if the small claims court could provide a remedy

macman

LBA, then sue via the small claims process if your loss is under £10k. Ltd co.or small trader? You must sue the right party.
If the engineer was not accredited at the time of the install, then I don't know why you think any Ombudsman or trade body can help you.